The Wexford back-rower has delivered eye-catching moments in the opening rounds even against the backdrop of two defeats. Wafer might wear a scrum-cap, but her cover as a relative newcomer has been blown.

Take the opening round against France. In her first Six Nations start, Wafer scored her first Ireland try two days before her 21st birthday. Last Sunday, she was a wrecking ball at times against Italy. She made the most line-breaks (two) along with wingers Béibhinn Parsons and Katie Corrigan.

In three different stats she was second behind captain Sam Monaghan with most carries (18), most metres carried in contact (22) and rucks won (13). Yes, she liked getting her hands on the ball.

“Yeah, it’s a good one, isn’t it? It’s always a nice one when you get to run a few metres and bash a few backs off the back of a scrum.”

If the rugby public didn’t know much about Wafer coming into this championship, they do now. Not that she was going to indulge in back-slapping when a complimentary question was put to her about her performances following the 27-21 defeat to Italy.

“I suppose being Irish, we don’t like taking compliments. I suppose I’ll know more when I watch back the game. We’re our own worst critics when it comes to it,” Wafer says. “I suppose even if one person has an all right game it’s all about the team and what we can do to spur each other on. We’ve just got to come together as a team, it’s a 15-person team, it’s not just me.”

Wafer made her Ireland debut two years ago when she came off the bench in the win over Italy in Cork. However, a ruptured hamstring sidelined her and it was another 18 months before she won her second cap as a sub in the WXV3 win over Spain last October. Her start against France was her third cap.

Ireland have targeted the home games in this campaign and Wafer feels last Sunday’s match was one they should have won.

“Yeah, it does. But we’ve got to go back now and review our game and we’ve to own our mistakes and fix them. There’ll be some tough talks over the next few days but that’s just high performance isn’t it? And that’s where this group is. We’re wanting to take those hard talks and we’re wanting to get better. We’re ready to grow.

“There is definitely progress on last year,” Wafer adds. “It takes a whole team to buy in. It is definitely exciting where we are going.”

Wales are up next in Cork on Saturday, April 13. They too will try and keep a close eye on the Irish player in the red scrum-cap.